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Dr. Edward F. Knipling was interviewed by Larry Quinn. The interview was recorded on March 9, 2000, at Knipling’s home in Arlington, Virginia.
Edward Fred Knipling (1909-2000) began working for the USDA in 1930. His early work included being stationed at the Menard, Texas, research center with E.W. Laake developing screwworm treatments ("smears") for animal wounds. Knipling developed the sterile insect technique by combining the sterilization research of Hermann Joseph Muller and the research of his colleagues, Roy C. Melvin and Raymond C. Bushland, on artificial production and mass rearing of screwworms. Knipling later worked on parasitoid augmentation technique, virus distribution, insecticide development, and integrated pest management systems on the boll weevil and other pests. Knipling served as the director of entomology research at the USDA before moving to the position of science advisor to the director of the Agricultural Research Service. He received many honors, including the World Food Prize in 1992.
This interview deals with the latter part of Knipling’s career and post-career work, including what he accomplished as science advisor to the director of the Agricultural Research Service. He discusses his development of the sterile insect technique in relationship to screwworm eradication and explains how it is used to control other insect pests. He explains how this technique will not always work to control other insects such as the boll weevil. He considers his greatest contribution to pest management to be his work on how we could use insect parasitoids in the same way as sterile insect technique to manage and eradicate insects. Most of the interview relates to development of techniques to eradicate insect pests.
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